Vatican City
The smallest country in the world offers the heart of Catholicism and among the
world's finest art collections, including the Sistine Chapel and the Raphael
Rooms (ceiling pictured). Go to Vatican City!

Austria
Belvedere Palace (pictured) is just one of many palaces found in Vienna. The capital
is a good start to Austria, which also features the Alps, the Lakes District, and
incredible history & food. Go Now!

Ukraine
Ukrainian culture is based on village life, particularly that found in the Carpathian
Mountains (pictured). Begin Your Journey!

Culture & Identity of Bosnia & Herzegovina

Introduction

The people of Bosnia & Herzegovina are quite diverse in numerous ways, most
notably in terms of religion, identity, and culture. Despite the many differences,
the differences in the daily way of life in the country is more heavily dependent
on location as there are vast differences in the urban and rural lifestyles as well
as on employment. Religion also plays a significant role, but few people in the
country today are overtly religious.

Nearly half the population is urbanized and the other half lives in more rural areas.
For the people in the more rural areas life is often times dependent on farming
and agriculture, which is a sector that employees about 20% of the working population.
For these people, no matter their religion, life is based off the land as days run
from sun up to sun down and their wellbeing is heavily dependent on the weather
and seasons.

Much of the urban population has more steady jobs in terms of hours and pay, but
there are few guarantees in employment in Bosnia & Herzegovina as nearly half
the population is unemployed today. For those lucky enough to have a steady job
most work somewhat regular hours, generally from about 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. Schools
also tend to have regular hours so greatly contribute to the daily way of life.

However, due to high levels of unemployment and strong family and community ties,
most of the people that do work tend to share their income with other family members
who are struggle to find work. In this way entertainment and spending money on non-essentials
is uncommon, but does exist, particularly in the cities. Since there is little money
to be spent on recreation and, more importantly, because of such strong family ties,
free time, on both evenings and weekends (Saturday-Sunday) is generally spent with
family.

Identity

In Bosnia & Herzegovina, the people primarily
identify by their religion, the Croatians are Catholic,
the Serbs are Orthodox, and the Bosniaks are Muslim. This
identity is so powerful, each group is willing to kill and die for it, despite the
declining participation in religious ceremonies by each group. Today cities remain
divided between Catholic and Muslim, Muslim and Orthodox, Orthodox, and Catholic
and none are willing to cross that line in fear of physical harm. Oddly, the people
are very similar, if not identically on both an ethnic and linguistic level, but
again claim these ethnicities and languages to be distinct from each other. Despite
all the similarities, religion trumps all else, but due to different religions,
varying foods and cultural aspects have arisen, giving each of these three groups
a number of distinctions, which expand beyond just religion.